Alleged Alphabay Admin Found Dead in Bangkok Jail

On July 5, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police conducted raids at several locations in Montreal and Trois-Rivières. The RCMP Integrated Technology Crime Group executed the raids in connection with an investigation into a global network of firearm and drug trafficking on the darknet. According to an RCMP spokesperson, the investigation involved the FBI and other, global law enforcement agencies. Canadian law enforcement targeted “computer equipment” for furthering the investigation.

Alphabay disappeared alongside the unfolding raids in Montreal and Trois-Rivières. Officials declined any formal comment on the specifics of the ongoing investigation, but few doubted a connection between the Canada raids and Alphabay downtime. And although the warrants were informational only, the RCMP spokesperson said that law enforcement had already arrested a suspect in Thailand.

The identity of the Thailand suspect eluded the community for a significant period of time. But, as with the raid of unidentified servers, darknet market users knew the suspect connected to Alphabay in one way or another. DNM veterans drew their own conclusions. Alphabay loyalists refused to believe Alphabay exit-scammed. And less than one week later, much of the Alphabay chatter had died down.

But on July 12, literally one week from the RCMP raids, news from Thailand rang alarm bells in the ears of DNM users. A 26-year-old Canadian named Alexandre Cazes had taken his own life in a cell at the Narcotics Bureau in Bangkok. The FBI had requested Cazes’s arrest and extradition and Drug Enforcement Officers of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau fulfilled the FBI’s request. On July 5, officers raided three of the 26-year-old’s homes and seized at least one of his three vehicles: a Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4.

The morning of July 12, when Cazes met or had planned to meet with the US extradition lawyer, an institution officer reported the tragic end to Cazes’s life:

“A duty officer noticed a towel hanging from the toilet door in his cell about 7am, but could not see him. The officer unlocked and entered the cell and found Cazes dead near the toilet. He promptly reported the discovery to senior officers at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau and to Thung Song Hong police station for investigation. Police said Cazes was detained in the cell alone. The towel was his personal belonging and he was believed to have used it to hang himself.”

Reports spread throughout the day, as did pictures and a video of police officers removing a body bag. No official statement had been issued about the suspect’s death—only that it had been reported to the United States. Bangkok authorities vowed to have an autopsy completed. The United States conveyed that they had no interest in verifying the legitimacy of the suspect’s death.

According to reporters, Cazes fled North America seven to eight years prior. He faced a slew of drug and firearm trafficking charges. News outlets reported that he “lived like a prince during his time as a fugitive; he got married and had a child on the way; he had three houses; at least three high-end vehicles—one of which was the Aventador; and a combined asset and cash value of more than 12 million dollars. Readers of /r/darknetmarkets quickly jumped aboard the DeSnake ship. DeSnake was Alphabay’s main admin and security specialist.

Searching Alexandre Cazes on the internet yields hundreds of websites, but for verification that Canada even had a citizen named Alexandre Cazes, LinkedIn worked perfectly. Cazes’s LinkedIn profile is still online. His company’s website, however, disappeared with the Alphabay servers. Nevertheless, LinkedIn provided a skillset which pointed towards only one thing: that Cazes had the skills required to fill the role DeSnake performed.

The website is gone, but it can still be accessed (along with nearly a dozen more of his sites), for free. The Wayback Machine reveals the content of all of the websites, along with the addresses and associated phone numbers. Unsurprisingly, the business addresses were in locations searched by the RCMP on July 5. On top of that, one Reddit user explained, “the EBX company site […] was developed and had similar code to Alphabay when inspecting sources.” The data that connects Cazes to DeSnake is stacking up, despite currently being majorly circumstantial.

TVA reported that the Canadian Department of World Affairs responded in a statement, saying, “our thoughts are with family members and friends of Alexandre Cazes.” And adding that “consular officers in Ottawa and Bangkok are in communication with family members.”

looks like they haven`t find any usb sticks or something that can connect to darknet things or maybe he had a good encryption. if he did so and they have not interogated him he would have done a great job! R.I.P

DeSnake may very well have been a Canadian (this guy), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the actual AlphaBay admin was too. DeSnake may also have been lying to alpha02 and the next admin figure about his location in order to secure the job. I know alpha02 was definitely a Russian but I’ve heard that he left awhile back and sold the market to new people.

BigMuscles was also definitely a Russian as well, but I’m pretty sure he came into the picture during the alpha02 era.

Why no one mention that it looks like a murder rather than a suicide, in order for the USA LE to steal his wealth, and our money they’ll get from escrow.

I never heard of a suicide with a 10×20 inch towel hanged at the door.

A good proof is that, when such a suicide occurs, Thai authorities always take loads of pictures of the defunct while still hanging, in that case no picture.

Last thing, USA stated that they didn’t want to know whether it’s suicide. They’re just happy either way.

Seen the wealth of DeSnake, there’s probably close to 1 billion $ to steal in the escrow, see the fact that he had at least 12 millions $ (excluded the btc he had somewhere safe) from only 4% commission !

They’ll share, all the wealth seized in Thailand go for the Thais, and all the escrow go to the FBI. Call me crazy ?

so who transferred funds from the market while it was down meanwhile he was locked up? the feds? if so shouldn’t that mean they have access to everything? i also find it very hard to believe he killed himself while he was alone in a cell with just a towel? this is huge news! I’m surprised pictures was not released yet.

He knew he was going to be tortured to no extent… Especially with his knowledge of other btc accounts in the millions. I was in jail one time for a week and saw same thing. This kid tied his towel to the top bunch hindge and just sat down hanging himself. They dragged his lifeless body out. He was looking at less than a year in jail… I felt so bad.. But unfortunately killing yourself in jail or prison is much easier than you’d think. So sad either way

I DID NOT KNOW YOU BUT I HAVE MAD LOVE 4U, THERE WERE TIMES I HAD NO IDEA HOW 2 PAY MY BILLS AND THANKS 2 YOUR WORK I HAD A WAY. I WAS JUST ABOUT 2 MAKE A REAL MOVE THAT WOULD HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE BUT AYE FUCK 12 LONG LIVE DESNAKE B.I.P. (BALL IN PARADISE) BRO

So pleased with the outpouring of gratitude. Great service to our community. I don’t have to go out and get beat trying to buy a oz. I lost about $50 whole dollars and that is because I violated my own rule. I got too comfortable. I thought no site would be better than Agora but AlphaBay was great. Well onto the next market and by the way when you crush one, 3 grow in it’s place.

I think there comes a point where even the most careful of men can become accustomed to certain services and after so much time build faith in that service. That can cause someone normally more opsec minded to get comfortable… And that’s when hell strikes… When your least expect it. My golden rule ALWAYS HAVE YOUR GUARD UP AND HAVE A PLAN B and C in case things go haywire. Protect yourself. Use your own wallet like localbitcoins or something, let’s all learn from our companions mistakes.

I d like to think your wrong but you very well could be right. What doesn’t make sense is if he was in custody how were their transactions on the blockchain in large amounts of bitcoin being taken out. Was that the feds taking it out? That’s the million-dollar or billion-dollar question

The man had a baby on the way…
And was smart enough to defect from the U.S. before being caught. So it would be reasonable to say he had some reasons to want to stay alive.
I agree, this was no suicide via a small “personal” towel.
More people need to bring this to mainstream. I can’t confirm nor deny DeSnake was not prone to any kind of suicidal tenancies.
This whole situation smells, I would advise the AB community to clean their closets. This ride is far from over now that L.E. has critical information.

What i don’t get is why like when silk road got shut down when you went to the onion link it would say that the DEA HAS SIEZED AND SHUTDOWN THIS SITE BLAH.BLAH.BLAH…..

Not saying its always gonna say that. But you would think if this really was a LE caused closure THE NEWS WOULD BE EVERYWHERE! There wouldn’t just be a few stories here and there. The DEA would make this their poster child as they took down alphabay the biggest drug Market on the darknet.for them that is something huge to brag about and would be talked about much more than it is being talked about on the news right now,and not being said leads me to suspicion with the whole suicide in the jail cell theory.there are so many unknowns right now.I’m sure the DEA would love to take responsibility for this,however I would think if they did something this big they would either post a statement on the Dea website. I have no reason to ever check that site so I haven’t checked it but I’m sure they would mention it in the news section.There is so much more to the story that we may or may not find out about.

Alexandre Cazes was my hero. He created a market that enabled me to provide for my family. I shed real tears when I read he was dead. I still cry thinking about it.

I found a few bugs on the site and he had paid me over $15,000

At a time when I could not even afford to feed my family, the money was a God sent. We (me and my family) went from eating only “A” meal a day to eating 3 meals a day. We went from wearing poor cloths to dressing modern. We went from taking home remedy suggestions for sicknesses to being able to buy real medications at the pharmacy. We went from hiding from the landlord to paying rent on time. The blessings were much.

The man was a good man. He was a GREAT man. Ever since I had joined AB and received my first bounty bug, I had always prayed for the admin and wished him well. I even brought my friend into AB so he could feed his family too. Till today he still thanks me.

It truly breaks my heart to see Alexandre Cazes is gone. I really wish I could hug him and shake his hand; and tell him that his work helped save me and my family from starvation.

Without AB, I would not have survived. It’s not possible. I had no money, no job, no future, debts everywhere, and inability to provide for my family. Things became so desperate for me that one morning I was planing on robbing a local church; decided not not rob it because I felt God would strike me down within the hour. But this great man, Alexandre Cazes, came and saved us.

Even when AB initially went offline, I hoped he was alright. Then as days went by, I just prayed he was safe, I hope he got out free. When people were screaming exit scam, I knew that such a man would never do such a thing. I simply hoped he was free from harm.

To hear his dead truly breaks my heart. I hope he left enough money for his wife and kid. I wish I could give her $500. Just incase she ever reads this, your husband is the greatest man I have ever known. I now have enough to feed my family for a long time, all because of him.

God bless your mother Alexandre Cazes and the day she gave birth to you. God give your wife and child a comfortable life forever.

I will always remember your name Alexandre Cazes, I will always. With total love and deepest respect. Forever missed.

Anybody think he is working for the NSA/FBI now?? no photo of the guy dead, no publicity, that is a typical operation of LE.. remember the operation of the CIA about the 5 or 6 diplomatics on the embassy.. if you can do that you can do anything.. who help the CIA on this operation? yeh CANADA. I think the guy is alive and working with the feds.

Odd Ross ulbricht was suddenly moved prisons with no notice.not even to family.all this happened right around the same time they claimed to have taken Hansa over. Look into the dates . Seems like they needed a ex admin to help them run entire site for s month without anyone knowing.. do you really think the Feds are smart enough to have that much criminal knowledge and know what to do with it to be able to run an entire market

shame was good while it lasted!! regard [email protected]
cocaine vendor!!
security expert my **** more like a pro in being a liability to us all!!
I dont believe he killed himeself! i belive it was murder!
GUESS WE’LL NEVER KNOW AND WILL HAVE TO BUY THE THAI STORY!